Amazon (which includes any other player largely dependent on Amazon) and the most price-conscious ebook consumers have won. Everybody else in the ecosystem: authors, publishers, and other vendors, have lost. The reaction from all quarters seems to confirm that analysis.

– As if the scandals over plagiarism in the KDP program weren’t enough, now it appears that there’s a major knockoff problem: cobbled-up books titled to resemble bestsellers in hopes of tricking consumers into buying them. I Am The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, anyone?

– Like most authors, I’ve had good experiences with editors (my current editor is a genius and a gem, and I adore working with her) and bad experiences (such as the editor who inherited my book after the original editor departed, and made it very clear she wouldn’t have signed me if things had been up to her). But even the worst experiences haven’t shaken my certainty of the vital importance of the editor’s role. At Salon, writer and former editor Gary Kamiya explores the awesomeness of working with a great editor.

– Is the self-publishing gold rush starting to wane? Self-pubbed author Rik Davnall thinks it may be. There’s some interesting food for thought here; I’ve long agreed with Rik’s observation that device enthusiasm, as much as readers’ desire for new material, has been a major driving force in the electronic self-publishing boom, and that as device enthusiasm levels out, so will the boom.

– Just for fun: Why waste time waiting for rejection letters, or worrying that your dream agent’s lack of response means she has a “no response means no” policy? Now you can beat them all to the punch and reject yourself. Behold: the Rejection Generator!

Featured Member

Lee Gimenez

Lee Gimenez is the author of eight novels and over fifty short stories. Several of his books became bestsellers, including BLACKSNOW ZERO, and THE NANOTECH MURDERS. His latest thriller, THE WASHINGTON ULTIMATUM, was published in 2013.

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